Executing God's Will (Arc 3 Magic Side)

Suddenly stopped in her heroic charge the surprise written on Touko’s face would express more than a thousand words. Typically for her she had totally forgotten about those around her and their opinions and motifs believing they would simply let her do as she pleased, ignoring how helpful one of the others could be. That’s something Natsume brought her to realise once again…a little.

«Na…tsu…me…?»

Staring at her with eyes of surprise our pointy haired heroine lacked all sense of wording. How did this girl know of the magician? How had she known where he had run off to? Just why had she been involved into all this? And why was she insisting on accompanying her so strongly?

Touko didn’t understand and as she did her naivety led her to overlook the most crucial of all details.

«…fine. Let’s go…!» She obviously didn’t enjoy the idea of drawing others into her fights, but one single glance into that other girl’s eyes was enough to ensure her how pointless fighting back was in this situation. Not to forget that Natsume’s help was the only solution that could lead to any accomplishment.
Without any more hesitation Kamijou Touko began to hurry after her last second saviour.

«But once we’re there stay out! This man is just too dangerous!»


All of his bullets had been fired.

Both his guns and one of his hands had been destroyed.

His final leap of faith had been blocked and countered harshly.

After being hit by the final blow he had collapsed to the ground.

Milo Lorelei lay defeated on the road’s dirty asphalt, breathing heavily while staring into the distant blue summer sky. All of his efforts had been in vain. All of his strength had simply been wasted now that the fight’s conclusion had turned against him. Even with all this ability he had. Loss had come over him.
But that wasn’t what pained him.

«…where…my pendant…where…is it…my my my…pendant…»

A weak voice was leaving his dried out torn lips. It wasn’t the voice of the ice cold professional that blonde man had faced only just now, but the voice of the frail boy that had been enjoying his innocently happy schooldays far removed from any blood shed.

He wished to move his arms and legs. He wished to get up again. He wished to run for it. He wished to pursue it. There was nothing he was longing for more than his treasured pendant.

But sadly…he couldn’t.

«…please…my…pendant…»

The battle was over. Milo had been thoroughly crushed. However narrowly, Jack had managed to counter each and every attack the boy had sent his way and ultimately secured victory. However, he felt no triumph. Rather, his heart was filled with a hollow sense of disappointment.

That was to be expected. In the beginning it had been a battle between magicians, but by the time the time the fight had reached its climax, it had degenerated into a simple brawl that could be found anywhere.

As he looked at the pitiful boy lying on the ground drained of all vitality, he found himself unable to even be glad that he'd survived.

«…where…my pendant…where…is it…my my my…pendant……please…my…pendant…»

Pitiful. Simply pitiful. As he looked down upon what had been proud magician not even five minutes ago, that was the only emotion he could feel.

At this point, he should turn away. He had nothing to gain from involving himself any further, and no desire to help someone who had seriously tried to kill him. But this pity...

If he let it sit, it would eventually become a regret.

And given time, that regret would become a chain that weighed him down.

...

"There's no time to exchange numbers, addresses, or whatever, so you'll have to find me the hard way later. Don't forget; you owe me for this."

He was obviously looking down on the boy, but at the same time, there was an unmistakeable sense of resignation in his tone. That, combined with his words' implication, sent a message to Milo that, in his current state, would likely have no small effect.

As he took a cursory glance at his surroundings, assessing the mayhem caused by the voodoo magician's zombies and hoping for a clue to his whereabouts, he just barely managed to catch sight of a girl before she ran around a corner.

It was the spiky haired girl from earlier. So far, she'd been involved in every step of the incident of the incident he knew of. And with nothing indicating that the pattern would be broken anytime soon, and no other clues to go on, she was his only lead.

And so, with complicated emotions  dancing in his chest, he let allowed the asphalt composing Tyrfing's blade to crumble and ran off in pursuit of the girl, ready to follow her to wherever her destination may be.

He didn't look back.

Natsume sighed, it seemed you couldn't just take out the recklessness out of people. It was a given she wouldn't openly involve herself in life-endangering situation, wasn't it?

As they neared the location where the boy and Shinichiro fought however, Natsume halted and turned to face the newcomer; a blond man who quite appeared to be a magician. Was he a foe? “Who are you?” She questioned the man warily as she analysed him.

As Natsume stopped, Touko did the same. Tilting her head towards the one that had appeared behind them, the pointy haired girl remained silent for the time being. As her eyes met him, she was sure to recognise that blonde foreigner nearly immediately. He was the one that had appeared during Milo’s first outbreak. He was the one that had appeared during the zombie incident. And he was the one that was supposed to stop Milo.  
Well at least he had been.  

«What do you want…?» Finally turning towards her, she released a sharp question. «What happened to Milo!?» With her voice growing stronger she also clenched her right first strongly, obviously preparing for the worst kind of reaction. There was no sure way to predict what the other party would do, especially if this one was one of them – a Magician.

She may have trusted him with taking care of Milo, but maybe that man didn’t carry any good intention in the end.  

What did she even know about him? Nothing. Exactly.

«I don’t have any time to waste with you. I need to move on and stop that other Magician before another tragedy will happen.»

«But…»

«If you wish to stand in my way then sorry, but I won’t allow for any of this to continue!!!»

After announcing her own position, she made preparations by measuring the distance between the two of them as well as checking the road for possible escape routes. Any opportunity to get this over with quickly was strongly welcomed, as long as it’d allow for her to protect Natsume, naturally assuming the girl behind her was in need of protection.  

Now then, how would the tables turn?

"Who are you?" Was the question posed to him after the two girls had finally noticed his presence. They both seemed quite wary of him, but seeing how they'd just escaped a real life zombie outbreak, it was perfectly understandable that they'd be on edge. More interestingly, however, the girl who'd spoken first had the scent of a magician. Himself, Milo, the foreigner, and now her. Why were there so many in Academy City all at once, and for seemingly separate reasons at that?

«What do you want…? What happened to Milo!? I don’t have any time to waste with you. I need to move on and stop that other Magician before another tragedy will happen. But… If you wish to stand in my way then sorry, but I won’t allow for any of this to continue!!!»

...Before he could reply, however, the spiky-haired girl from earlier spoke up. Upon hearing her words, an indescribable sense of frustration began welling up. Since he came to this city, nearly everyone he's met attacked him out of the blue. It was growing quite irritating, to be honest.

"...I'm terribly sorry, but your questions will have to wait a moment. The girl that was polite enough to try conversation before immediately resorting to violence, unlike most of the people I've met in this city, gets to have her question answered first. My name is Jack Nightingale, a tourist visiting the city." Despite his somewhat caustic choice of words, he spoke evenly throughout without letting his emotions affect his tone.

And with his introduction now finished, he shifted his attention back to the girl with the spiky hair.

"As for you, your friend is fine. Well, I guess that's not exactly true, but I didn't deliver any serious injuries. Regarding what I want, well, isn't the fact that we're both traveling towards the same destination an obvious enough clue? I have no intention of standing in your way, and it is actually fairly likely that our goals overlap."

"...I'm terribly sorry, but your questions will have to wait a moment. The girl that was polite enough to try conversation before immediately resorting to violence, unlike most of the people I've met in this city, gets to have her question answered first. My name is Jack Nightingale, a tourist visiting the city."

Touko gritted her teeth upon those words. This situation had been a lot of trouble, so it was only natural for her to be this agitated by the presence of someone she didn’t know anything about; especially in case of a Magician that had never revealed his true intentions. Now that he had done so, however her hostility would fade as if blown away by the wind.  
She really hadn’t expected an ally to pop up like this.

«Sorry. A lot has happened today…», she admitted, partially giving a reason for her behaviour. And while the news about Milo weren’t that encouraging she at least could release a sigh of relief on the fact that his state wasn’t as bad as she’d picture in her mind. «I’d appreciate it if you came with us. Together we might have a better chance at stopping that guy!» Mustering a faint smile Kamijou Touko announced her decision. Unlike with Natsume, the pointy haired girl was well aware of the fact that that the man called Jack Nightingale would be someone she didn’t need to protect in the upcoming fight – she knew that he was a real Magician after all.

Finally making the next step she turned her back towards their new ally preparing to continue down the road. «We should hurry before anything else happens. We can’t let anyone else get drawn into this!» With the path in front of her cleared there was no need to look back anymore. For some reason the air around her was reeking of some cheaply clichéd atmosphere, the thing you’d feel about any of those childish concepts heroes to be found in comic books.
Well in the end she wasn’t anything like that. Kamijou didn’t have any kind of over the top power or any drive like a dead family pushing her forward; she wasn’t even doing all this for anyone besides herself and the things she saw as right and wrong. But all that didn’t matter at this point. The only thing to care about was the clock that was running down.

«Ah right! I’m Kamijou Touko!», she finally returned the kindness as they’d continue travelling toward the final destination.

"...I'm terribly sorry, but your questions will have to wait a moment. The girl that was polite enough to try conversation before immediately resorting to violence, unlike most of the people I've met in this city, gets to have her question answered first.”

It had to be said that Natsume had rarely met magicians that would put politeness as a priority. Even though it was justified because he was a magician, what had this man got himself into if people never even tried to talk with him before attacking him...?

“My name is Jack Nightingale, a tourist visiting the city."

“Just a normal tourist...?” Though she had tried to analyse his intentions as him and Touko talked, because magicians weren't always trustworthy, she couldn't feel any ill will from him.

After a long minute, she finally started running after the girl who had resumed her race against time along with Nightingale. There was always the possibility of back-stabbing, but perhaps for now it would be best to gather allies, she thought.

«Ah right! I’m Kamijou Touko!»

Natsume pondered on whether she should mention her full name, though clearly neither of them seemed to recognise her face anywhere. Perhaps it was safe to mention it... “I'm... Hujisaka Natsume!”

«Sorry. A lot has happened today… I’d appreciate it if you came with us. Together we might have a better chance at stopping that guy! We should hurry before anything else happens. We can’t let anyone else get drawn into this!»

She turned around and began running again even before she had finished speaking, prompting him to follow her. As a result, he almost missed her next words.

«Ah right! I’m Kamijou Touko!»

An apology, an honest request for help, a sense of justice, and an introduction. For the first time since he entered Academy City, he witnessed such normal things. Despite the fact that they were about to rush headlong into what would certainly become a battle against magicians, he was actually calmer than before.

Hm, perhaps what he was going through before was something similar to culture shock? Suddenly being cut off from all known values, drowning in things that you don't understand... The description fits surprisingly well. So by that logic, the normality of Touko's must have had an effect similar to chatting with a family member on the phone. A  short break from all the stressors in the surroundings.

"Just a normal tourist...?"

On the other hand, the magician was noticably more taciturn. Granted, that was the natural reaction to suddenly meeting another magician of unknown affiliation on the side of the road, so he was just thankful that she didn't start attacking him out of the blue like that nun from the other day. So even if she didn't return his greeting like Touko did, it wouldn't matter muc-

"I'm... Hujisaka Natume!"

He wasn't sure whether she was simply following Touko's example or if she just didn't consider him an enemy, but either way, it was a yet another breath of fresh air. It was one thing for a student like Touko to be normal, but for a magician to be so was significantly more uncommon. He was more than satisfied with her not jamming nails through the back of his hand, so this was a pleasant surprise indeed.

"So, Natsume. Where are we going exactly? You seem to be confident in the accuracy of whatever method you're using, so I won't ask about that, but it'd be nice to know the destination beforehand if at all possible."

He wasn't sure whether or not Touko knew Natsume's identity, and either way things could go south fast if she suspected that he was trying to figure out her magic, but he couldn't just let this go. Location is one of the most important things to consider in a battle, and they'd already let their enemy choose it. He's learned the hard way that to just charge in under such circumstances without at least a passing knowledge of the location was borderline suicidal.

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, as they say.

---

Standing in the doorway was Kotomine Shirou, his contact in Academy City. Shinichiro was originally supposed to meet with much sooner than this, but he'd met his target first, and prioritized his mission. Unfortunately, as he now knew painfully well, despite his initial troubles finding his target, it seemed that there was more than one albino in this city.

And for some reason, the one he'd found was a fellow magician of all things. How the hell was he supposed to have seen that coming?

"Yanda-san? I expected you sooner. Did you run into trouble, my son?"

Without bothering to return his greeting, Shinichiro shoved his way into the dorm room. It probably didn't make a very good impression on his collaborator, but time was of the essence, and this wasn't a subject they could talk about in the middle of a dormitory hallway.

"You don't know the half of it. I found someone who fit the description to T, but when I actually moved to get rid of him, he turned out to be a damn magician of all things! And a powerful one at that."

At this point, he stopped for a moment to calm himself down. He was certainly stressed, and they needed be ready, pronto, but it wouldn't help any if he alienated Shirou, and in his current mental state, he could make a fatal mistake at an important moment. With that in mind, he took a deep breath, and began again.

"I'm sorry for my rudeness, but I'm a little stressed at the moment. The short of it is, the guy's probably on his way here right now. We need to set up some sort of defense before he gets here. If we don't, then we might get blown to pieces."

"So, Natsume. Where are we going exactly? You seem to be confident in the accuracy of whatever method you're using, so I won't ask about that, but it'd be nice to know the destination beforehand if at all possible."

Natsume sweat dropped internally when she realised it was perhaps a bad idea to just ouright reveal her method of tracking to another magician as it hadn't been set it stone that they weren't foes yet, so she quickly pondered a reason as to why she'd know their current enemy's location.

“Umm, I had a slight altercation with the people we're currently after and followed them there, but because I ended up alone I decided to backtrack and ask help from this problem-seeking person here.” Natsumi explained as she pointed towards Touko, thankfully though about half of it wasn't exactly a lie either so at least she had a good conscious there. “It's not like we have any other lead though, do we?” She followed up with a question.

“So with that in mind, we're currently headed towards a dormitory; it's a rather normal one belonging to an average school. Considering what I've seen so far, I suggest we stay alert for student ambushes.” She commented dejectedly, wondering how she'd deal with such an ambush without harming anyone too much. Perhaps she should have brought a bag of salt with her, but that sounded more ridiculous than practical...

“Umm, I had a slight altercation with the people we're currently after and followed them there, but because I ended up alone I decided to backtrack and ask help from this problem-seeking person here. It's not like we have any other lead though, do we? So with that in mind, we're currently headed towards a dormitory; it's a rather normal one belonging to an average school. Considering what I've seen so far, I suggest we stay alert for student ambushes.”

A school dormitory... That smelled of trouble. He could always use an opila rune to draw them away, so there wasn't any particular need to worry about the students becoming collateral damage, but that wasn't where worries lied. That foreigner boy seemed to specialize in a type of Infection Magic rooted in Voodoo to take control of other people's bodies, so if he was in a place with such a high concentration of people, then...!

«Hujisaka, this place…»

"Hm? Touko, what's wrong?" He had been busy ruminating on the implications of the information he'd received from Natsume, so he hadn't noticed, but Touko's voice, practically shaking with emotion, drew his eye. He recognized what he saw. Someone overrun with passion, and about to do something incredibly stupid as a result...!

«Why didn’t you tell us before!? Don’t you know what that Magician could do at a place like this!! We can’t afford to lose any more time! There is no saying what that bastard would do in such an environment!»

He didn't have any opportunity to stop her; she'd begun running towards the destination at a breakneck pace, and had already passed him by the time he'd noticed.

"Oi, you idiot! What do you think you're doing?!"

This was bad. This was very, very bad...! If his assumptions were correct and Touko rushed straight into the enemy stronghold, then they'd enter the worst possible scenario!

With her lead it was unlikely that he'd be able to catch up to her, but he picked up the pace regardless.

---

Everything was ready. That trap had been set, the bait had been laid, and he could already see the prey rounding the corner.

All that was left was to wait for the right timing...

«Why didn’t you tell us before!? Don’t you know what that Magician could do at a place like this!!»

“Eh? Eh?!”  Natsume cried out in shock, wasn't that clearly what she had done by specifically going to Touko to warn her? “But I did, ~tte...!”

«We can’t afford to lose any more time! There is no saying what that bastard would do in such an environment!»

"Oi, you idiot! What do you think you're doing?!"

“Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?! Waaaaait!!”  Natsume wasn't athletic. At all. Needless to say it was hell trying to catch up to Touko and Jack who had suddenly started running even faster

**

The poor girl was out of breath by the time she actually reached the dormitory, though as soon as she entered she noticed Touko, recklessly yelling around to drag magicians out.

Just how stupid was that girl?! Natsume almost tore her hair out at the frustration of someone so freaking reckless! “Stop that, are you completely out of your mind or are you the type of person who just goes against a serial killer barehanded with no chances of winning?!” Natsume yelled in a whisper, slowly but surely losing her temper at a rate that would have her snap very, very soon.

“Or did you perhaps think they were so stupid that they didn't expect anyone coming after them?! You're going to get us killed!”

"That idiot, that idiot, that idiot! She just ran straight into the enemy stronghold!"

He'd failed to catch up with her, and could only watch as she ran into the enemy stronghold. She had made no preparations, had little to no knowledge of what traps may have been set ahead of time, and may very well have already been killed.

Despite that, he ran in after her. He owed her, after all, and it'd leave a bad taste in his mouth if she dies before he had a chance to pay her back. Luckily for him, if she was still alive in there, then that debt would be null and void after this. No, she might even be the one that owed him, now...

Thankfully, she was still in one piece when he found her. On the other hand, the dormitory was completely silent. This was the sort of silence that you only found in areas completely and utterly deserted of any form of life, which simply doesn't exist in the city.

Had the magician set a people clearing field? That would explain it, but on the other hand, there was also another, much more chilling possibility...

As he scanned the halls, the other girl, Natsume arrived. She was breathing pretty hard. Physical activity must not be her area of expertise, he supposed. He waited for her rant to Touko to end and for her breathing to calm down before he shared his observations.

He wouldn't get the chance.

---

The girl with the strange right hand, and the two magicians. They had all entered one after the other, with the spiky-haired girl leading the charge. It was a foolish move, and from his vantage point in one of the dorm rooms, he could see the magicians' panic. It was obviously not a move they'd thought out beforehand.

This would work to his advantage. He just had to attack them now, before they got their bearings.

---

Footsteps rang out through the silence like the beats of a drum. Judging from their volume, it was if they had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, but that impression was quite simple to create. All you have to do is silence your footsteps and approach someone, and then purposely create noise.

He had been facing Touko and Natsume, a couple paces in front of him, but now he turned around one hundred and eighty degrees in the direction of the footsteps. There was the magician he'd met earlier that day. He had provoked Milo, stolen the boy's necklace necklace, and dragged him into this incident as a result.

He saw the tall boy smile, and the once silent dormitory erupted with noise. Every single door in the building slammed open at once, and a flood of people, no, of zombies rushed into the halls. They flowed around the enemy magician like a river around a great stone. Just like before, he was the one controlling them.

He had no problems with killing them if he needed. Even if it was no fault of their own, they were trying to end his life, after all. But even so, he'd prefer not to if at all possible. It'd cause problems if he were to kill an esper, after all, and the two girls behind him didn't seem to be the types of people who watch someone kill another person in cold blood and be unaffected, even if it was in self-defense.

So with that in mind, rather than drawing his sword, he drew his stones instead. Hagalaz, disruption. Mannaz, the human self. With those runes, he would be able to induce a much deeper unconsciousness than just hagalaz alone. Those he afflicted wouldn't get up for a while.

On the other hand, there were dozens of people here, and he only had so many runes. He couldn't just throw them, so he'd have to manually knock them out one by one. This was becoming quite troublesome.

Rather than rushing to meet the horde, he leaped back towards Touko and Natsume. If they were separated here, the chances that they'd meet again before the fight was over were slim.

Natsume grabbed the bridge of her nose as Touko reprimanded her for following along. She was usually a kind and patient person, but somehow Touko struck her nerves in the worst possible ways.

“If you know that then why are you trying to fight?!” She argued back in a whisper.

Though she wouldn't receive an answer to that question, as the doors suddenly burst open to reveal zombies created from the students of the dormitory. Natsume could see Touko shaking, and the only thing she could do was bite her lip and pull out her dagger.

She would ignore everything Touko had to say; as they were, sentimentalism wouldn't work on the students. A magician didn't use magic on people for them to be affected by “emotional speeches” so easily... With a swing, she marched forwards. This first attack would serve of warning to the zombies to not get closer, passing right above their heads and cutting off some of their hair for the tallest ones.

“Are you trying to cause a war?!” Natsume shouted to Shinichiro as she advanced. “Don't you realise what will happen if the magic and the science side fight each other?”

(...How did this happen?) Natsume thought sadly, wondering why she had taken a path of fighting when it was the first thing she hated.

«You… There is still a way out of this! You can still stop before you continue hurting people!»

“Are you trying to cause a war?! Don't you realize what will happen if the magic and the science side fight each other?”

In response to their overly idealistic words, all Shinichiro could do was slowly shake his head in pity. For them to still be thinking of such concerns when things had already reached this stage went beyond naivete and into the world of foolishness. The simple fact that he had the resolve to carry out something like this, or even simply his continued presence in the city despite it the domain of the science side should have been enough to tell them that such words would never get through to him.

"Still a way out? A war? Are you really in a situation where can you afford to worry about things like that?"

Despite the scene before him that would classify as disgusting on a psychological level, with human bodies practically crawling over each other in their struggles to get even a single inch closer to their targets, he was somehow able to speak with a sense of calm amazement. The source of that placidity was his confidence. As it was, he could see absolutely for him to lose. He was facing a bunch of naive fools with a horde of civilians, and regardless of whether they managed to break past that hurdle, he'd win either way so long as he still had that card.

---

At a glance, it seemed like a hopeless situation. They were being attacked from all directions by mindless drones that couldn't even feel pain. A normal person would be overrun in mere seconds and crushed beneath the sheer weight of that giant mass of human bodies. However, they were not normal people.

Jack and Natsume were magicians, and Touko was an esper even if he didn't know what her power was. Normal people would have to disable the bodies of their attackers on a structural level to drive them off, but Jack had no need to do such a thing. With his runestones, all he needed was physical contact, and one zombie was out for the count. With that, he was actually able to take advantage of the fact that only a limited number of people could assault them at a given time. But even with that, if he tried to fend them off on his own, he'd still be overrun eventually. So, now more glad that he'd decided to jump back to rejoin the group while he had a chance, he barked a question with what little breath he had to spare.

"Hey, Natsume! That wind blade just now, can you hit the magician with it from here?!"

All Natsume could do was repeatedly throw bursts of pressurised wind at angles that would at best disable people from moving, or slamming them against walls as she was trying her best to avoid casualties from her magic. This was tough, she thought, as she swung the blood-drinking dagger non-stop.

"Hey, Natsume! That wind blade just now, can you hit the magician with it from here?!"

“I might be able to!” Natsume shouted in an exhausted reply as she analysed the situation. Shinichiro was at best 10 metres away from her, which was nearing the limits of her dagger. To ensure the wind wouldn't dissipate, she had to get closer than that. As such, Natsume took a deep breath. “Back me up!” She shouted an order unusual to her as she ran towards her target; Shinichiro.

Natsume ran towards her target and used the heads of the crawling zombies yet again to close the distance a bit. For the slight seconds she successfully maintained balance on the heads as she ran forwards she swung the dagger two times in an X pattern, before falling back near Touko and Shinichiro when losing her balance.

The plan had been a good one. It was a simple plan, but in this sort of chaotic scene that looked like it was something straight out of a horror movie, that was the only kind of plan someone can come up with. There were no inherent flaws in it, either. However, simple plans can be foiled by simple means. That fact would make itself known shortly. Even as Jack prepared to answer Natsume's request for assistance, he heard something that sent a chill down his spine.

«I don’t know what it is that you are trying to accomplish, but if you believe it justifies bringing misery over hundreds of innocent people, then I will destroy that illusion!»

That idiot had gone ahead and rushed straight into her own offensive, completely ignoring Natsume's efforts. She didn't even bother trying to defend herself from the enemies lunging after her on all sides, opting instead to trust her back to him. He was hald tempted to just her get taken down, but they'd need every ally they could get if they wanted to get through this. With the intent of avoiding that scenario, Jack lunged after Touko with the intent to grab her arm and pull her back. Unfortunately, something else interrupted him before he could.

«Don’t talk all high and mighty about things you yourself will never understand! Don’t act like you know! Don’t act like you are the ones that are trying to save this world! Don’t act like you are heroes when it is you defending the villain!»

The situation had changed. They were not up against one magician, but two. In addition, Touko was about to be dealt a severe blow, which would take her out of the game. The situation had changed. The situation had changed. If Touko was taken out, then the situation would change further. Things had been flowing in their favor, so any change brought about by the enemy could only serve to do them harm.

That was the extent of his awareness. What happened next involved no planning. There was not enough time for that. All he could do was act on the instincts he'd gained through the years he'd spent doing jobs within the magic side.

He changed the target of his lunge. Rather than grabbing Touko's arm and pulling her back to safety, he grabbed the newcomer's arm and attempted to forcibly change the knife's path to one that would not come into contact with Touko.

As she saw the sacrifice of the spiky girl to allow her a path to take out the enemy, Natsume took a deep breath and a step forwards.

That step forwards launched her into a sprint ignoring the living corpses on the way, as she pulled from her waist pack a small doll made from her hair with her right hand after switching her ceremonial dagger to her left hand.

Childe of Ehecatl. The voodoo doll that would allow her to create mini tornadoes in areas it was thrown in on the condition of being doused in blood and stabbed before thrown.

The right hand that pulled out the doll was oozing with blood result of all the fighting she had done with her dagger. "Kamijou-san, please move away!!" She yelled as she mercilessly stabbed the hair doll, throwing it at Shinichiro.

The mini tornado was created, its violence intensified due to the restricted space it was in. The unconscious bodies of the people who were around Shinichiro flew around and ended up smacked against walls, with the walls themselves slowly being destroyed from the vortex trying to break free from the small confinement.

As the devastation that nearly blew her away as well finally came to an end, Natsume only grasped her dagger back in the right hand as she gritted her teeth. (Is it over?) She wondered, Shinichiro couldn't really have survived being the centre of that?

But even if he was the centre of that, as she looked around she wondered; was it all right for her to use collateral damage to achieve her goal? Magicians weren't exactly taught to think about the collateral damage of their objectives and nothing in this small area would've taken out Shinichiro without the students, but grief still evidently struck her face as she stopped to think about what she should've focused more, the enemy or the students, making the grip on her dagger waver.

Then darkness and anger replaced the grief on her face while slowly nearing the area the tornado had ravaged. "I hope you're ready for the consequences of making us harm Espers that didn't even deserve being involved in your treaty-breaking nonsensical vengeance." She muttered at the two troublemakers as she readjusted her grip on the dagger just in case. "And this time there won't be collateral damage."

«You are Magicians. So why are you interfering?! Shouldn’t you of all people know best that what we are doing is for the better of the whole world?! Shouldn’t you know best that there must be a very good reason for us to interfere with this city’s plans!? So why are you standing in our way!?»

"I can't really say I care about any of that. You can save the world or whatever on your own time. I have no intention of interfering with whatever you're planning, and no intention of helping you either. I just came by fetch that pendant your friend stole. But then, like everyone else I've met in this damn city, you attacked me out of the blue without bothering to confirm my intentions. Granted, I can't really blame you for that considering my choice in companions, but the fact remains that you attacked me."

"So while I don't have anything against you, it seems I'll be using you to let off some steam. I'd apologize in advance, but I'm not exactly sorry."

For the first time since he came to this city, someone had actually stopped to ask his intentions, and he was happy to comply. He'd kept going on and on about how no one had stopped to do so, after all, so he'd end up a hypocrite if he were to just ignore someone's attempt to break the pattern. At the same time, however, his frustration was at its limits, adrenaline was pumping through his veins, and he had the perfect outlet for all that right in front of him. And he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The moment he finished speaking, just as the last syllable of his response was spoken aloud, he moved. With one hand, he grabbed at the arm that held a hatchet above his body, readied for an executioner's blow. He would not let that strike be made reality. With his other hand, he moved to wrest his enemy's other hand away from his chest. That arm held the dual purposes of holding him down on the ground and keeping his enemy up in the air. If that support were to suddenly be removed, then both of their bodies would be free to move. His enemy's body would be pulled his under the sway of the earth's gravity, and he would be free to move his body upwards to meet his enemy's. With both arms occupied it would be difficult to take advantage of that opportunity, but there was still a single option left. A headbutt. Just like how a punch thrown at someone running toward you inflicted more damage than one dealt to a stationary target, his headbutt would be more powerful than normal. In addition, if he was successful in catching the enemy off guard then he would be the only one prepared for the blow. While normally both parties would receive equal damage from a headbutt, in that case his enemy would come out on the loser's end.

But in the end, this would not likely achieve victory. It was far from a finishing blow, after all. His goal for the moment was not to incapacitate his enemy, but to escape from their current position. The one mounted atop another had a tremendous advantage in almost all circumstances, so he had to get out from underneath as soon as he possibly could. To that end, he tensed all of his muscles in preparation. The moment their foreheads met, he would take advantage of whatever lapse appeared in his enemy's concentration to roll them over and mount himself atop his enemy.

From there, they'd be playing a game of king of the hill.

---

"Kamijou-san, please move away!!"

That was all he needed to discern the nature of his opponents spell. If it was something her companion might get caught up in, than it'd have a large range, and likely be quite powerful as well. If he were to stay there, then he would be in great danger. That was all he needed to know to decide what his next action would be, and he had no time for further deliberations regardless. There was no time for him to glance at the object the girl had thrown, no time to take in the meaning of the other girl's sacrifice, and only just enough time to send a single command to the zombies closest to his person. It was only a single command, it was simple, and it was crude, but it would work. If it didn't work than he would fail in his mission, so it was impossible for it to fail.

He had the zombies pick him up and toss him down the stairwell. He hadn't been able to send any orders to regulate the strength they put into the toss, so he was sent flying through the air with the full power of multiple high schoolers in the prime of their youth. And on top of that, the landing wasn't pretty either. He was sent flying straight down the stairwell without touching a single stair, and crashed down upon the base of the stairs, midway down. His vision was unclear, he could feel an uncomfortable wetness at the base of his skull, he couldn't seem to think clearly, he could only hear a faint crashing sound off in the distance, and his body didn't seem to be listening to his commands. But still, he could still feel it. He could feel the doll in his pocket. He could feel the connection between him, it, and all those zombies he'd put together to combat his enemies. He could still send commands to it, so he had yet to fail in his mission. He was too out of it to send any detailed instructions, but even in his unfocused state, he knew what he had to do. He had to crush all those that impeded him.

He relayed his will to his thralls. His thralls would relay his will to his enemies.

With every second that passed, both his thoughts and vision grew clearer. He recognized that he was lying halfway down a stairwell, that he had had his skull bashed into the wall, and that he had survived. That he was losing his connection with his thralls, one by one, and that his means to fight were dwindling. How did it end up like this? The ambush had gone perfectly, they hadn't noticed his ally until it was too late, and...

His thoughts stopped at that point. He had been making his way back up the stairs to see what was going on, since the information on the battlefield he could glean from his thralls was that they were still losing. He had made it to the very top of the stairs, had walked back into the hallway with his head almost completely clear, but then he stopped in his tracks.

«Do you really think you will get away with this, you ungodly Magician…?!»

That... Was not an expression a young girl should be making. It wasn't an expression that should be made by a human being at all. The dissonance between her appearance and the fear she was inspiring within him clashed and made her seem all the more frightening for it. But even as he felt that fear...

"Hah. If things like you are what this city is creating, then I am most definitely the righteous one here, monster!"

He was righteous. He was just. He was following the Lord's will. So...

"There is no way I can fail here!!!"

There only a few thralls left standing, now. Six, maybe seven. But now, in tandem with his impassioned shout, they all moved at once. From the front, from behind, both left and right, and a couple more to fill in the gaps. This was the same as the beginning of their confrontation, but there two, very important differences. First, she was alone. She did not have her allies by her side; they had been separated during the fight. There was no one for her to entrust her back to.

And second, he was not going to look on from afar this time. He was not going to entrust it all to the zombies this time. This time, he would join the fray. He would grasp victory with his own hands. His enemy was embattled on all fronts, so she would not be able to dodge this punch of his!

---

...What?

He could hear his own heartbeat, the sound of his enemy breathing, his blood dripping to the floor, and far off in the distance, a half-muffled scream of agony. In the corner of his eye, he could see the source of the rapidly growing heat in his shoulder. An iron pole. There was an iron pole lodged in his shoulder. Extending outwards from within his enemy's hand, there was a long iron pole that had lodged itself into his shoulder. Doubtlessly, he should have given more than a single muffled shout, but even though he visually recognized the pole's presence in his shoulder all he could feel from that part of his body was a strange, burning warmth.

So it's this again.

All the symptoms were present. It seemed like things were moving in slow motion, his senses felt like they were sharper than they had any right to be, and he had suffered a severe, traumatic injury. He reckoned that most people would have at least heard of it. How, in dire situations, the adrenaline would rush to your head and make everything seem like it was moving in slow motion. How you would feel no pain, and find yourself capable of impossible feats. He knew more about it than most, seeing how most people had never had the joy of finding themselves in a serious enough situation to experience it firsthand.

That was the situation he was in. Already, he could feel the blood in his veins collecting around the pole, searching for a path through which to flow out. When the pole was removed, there would be nothing to stop all that pressure from being released. Afterwards, he'd only have a few minutes until he passed out from blood loss, and even less time before it became too dangerous for him to use Tyrfing.

However, regardless of the danger that presented, staying there was a decision only a fool would make. He had to move, before his enemy did. His decision made, he willfully abandoned his position atop Shirou and leaped backwards, tearing the pole out of his shoulder in the process. With the obstruction gone, a small fountain of blood left his body and entered the open air.

Like that, even giving himself five minutes before he passed out may have been too generous. Every second spent doing anything other than acting was a second wasted, and a second that tipped the scales out of his favor. He dug into his pocket just as he had at the beginning of the encounter, but what he drew from it this time was no stone. It was the same weapon he'd used to defeat Milo, a golden hilt from which he would forge the sword named Tyrfing. With his right shoulder in its current condition, wielding the sword with his right hand as per usual would reduce the accuracy of his swings, so he held it with his left hand instead and pressed the surface of the hilt against the wall. Immediately, the concrete from which the wall was constructed was drawn from the wall and toward the hilt, and went on to form a simple shape recognized by all. A blade.

Even as he continued moving further and further back, further and further away from the enemy who would no doubt begun pursuing him at any moment, he took a simple action that would bring great pain to any who underestimated the weight of meaning it held. The sword was still held out to the side, yet to have been moved from the position it was in when it was forged. With a flick of his wrist, the blade slashed the air as it cut to the right. In his vision, the path of the blade was perfectly parallel with the enemy's waist.